When the Sea Gives Birth to Mountains

GARISBUMI.com – Forty-four years after Krakatoa exploded and part of its body collapsed, something moved from the bottom of the Sunda Strait. At first it was just a burst of water and smoke. Then a piece of black land appeared which was repeatedly lost by the waves.

There were no mountains there that morning.

What is visible is only the sea between Rakata, Sertung and Panjang Islands. The three islands were what remained after Krakatoa exploded violently in 1883. Danan and Perbuwatan were destroyed. Part of the Rakata also collapsed. The place that was previously filled with the body of a mountain turned into a large caldera, then was filled with sea water.

The Sunda Strait seems to have closed the wound.

The ships passed by again. Life grows again on the remaining islands. Forty more years have passed. For humans, that's a long time to think that the disaster is over.

Apparently not.

On December 29, 1927, sea water gushed from the center of the Krakatoa complex. The spray came from below, resembling a large fountain. With it came smoke and volcanic material.

A new mountain is finding its way to the surface.

The process does not directly produce islands. Undersea eruptions eject material, but waves hit it and drag it back. Small mounds may appear today, then disappear some time later.

The sea doesn't want to give up yet.

So does the mountain that is being born.

The eruption took place repeatedly. Material from the seabed continues to be spewed out, little by little, as if a large hand was filling a point in the middle of the Sunda Strait.

Volcano experts note these changes carefully. According to research published by the Geological Agency of the Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources, the underwater burst lasted until January 1929.